As the founder of a Burlington-based consulting company, Blumenthal Enterprises, Will Jeffries’ work and his passion are aligned on the goal of empowering visionary innovators to transform their ideas into successful businesses or impact.
Acting primarily as a venture strategy consultant and “catalyst” for launching innovative ideas, Will helps founders and other leaders develop and implement a clear entrepreneurial strategy, acquire the necessary resources and data to support the venture, and he guides the initial deployment to the point of creating the desired scalable business or impact. While providing a strategic level of support to ventures, Will also appreciates the opportunity to roll up his sleeves and work alongside the teams he advises, sometimes taking on additional roles that range from product development and prototyping, to developing and leading sales processes.
Will says he likes to start conversations with potential clients by learning more about their personal vision, and he firmly believes that a good outcome involves more than just a successful project, but also includes long-term personal goals and lifestyles. Although he has direct experience in a range of industries, Jeffries says that he is sometimes selective about the ventures he chooses to work with and focuses much of his efforts on innovations where the outcomes incorporate elements of environmental sustainability or those that will have a positive social impact (often both).
His journey to this point has been diverse and sometimes challenging. After leaving a small family farm in central Vermont, Will made a new start of life in his early 20s, working as a machine technician and welder in manufacturing for several years before he was able to attend college, first at Vermont Technical College (now VTSU) and later at UVM. While completing two degrees in engineering, he also worked in a variety of technical as well as entrepreneurial or business-related roles with organizations around the country which included Sedron Technologies, Dynapower, Radio-Flyer, UVM’s Office of Innovation, and NASA.
Will found himself returning to Vermont again and again however, and it was after several years of working in the growing startup and entrepreneurial scene of the Vermont Center For Emerging Technology, Hula, Black River Innovation Campus, and UVM’s Office of Innovation that he realized there was a need and an opportunity for him to leverage his talents to help create not just one but a multitude of successful ventures in the state of Vermont.
“My inspiration came from seeing many brilliant and potentially impactful ideas struggle to achieve their full potential due to a lack of entrepreneurial strategy, incomplete information, or something as simple as a missed connection” Will explains. “I wanted to bridge that gap, providing the guidance and support that founders and internal champions were seeking as well as offering a more active type of support to build successful ventures, leveraging the network of resources we find in our region to turn more of these great ideas into real impact, both in Vermont and globally.”
It was also through his early work with the UVM ARC (Academic Research Commercialization) program that he met VtSBDC Business Advisor/Statewide Innovation & Tech Commercialization Scott Holson. Scott served as Will’s advisor in multiple technology commercialization ventures and has continued as his advisor since the launch of Blumenthal Enterprises in 2022. Will shares that Scott has always been insightful, encouraging, and candid in his business advising.
“Scott’s expertise and genuine commitment to helping those he works with succeed has made all the difference in my journey to becoming a business owner myself,” says Will. “He was one of the best influences in my early entrepreneurial career. Over time, he has helped me develop a clear data-driven strategy for building a highly successful venture that addresses real and specific needs in my community.”
Scott describes his advising sessions with Will as exciting, rewarding, and productive. “Will has demonstrated repeatedly that he executes whatever task I give him. From Will’s success, it is clear that he carries this dedication to the clients he works with.”
“Will is an extraordinary entrepreneurial partner who listens to his clients, and helps bring their ideas to fruition,” Scott explains. “He is always receptive to recommendations, successfully overcoming complex challenges and seizing new opportunities.”
Today, Blumenthal Enterprises provides a combination of strategic advising alongside the “Get-It-Done” hands-on approach to actualize ideas, supporting founding teams at every step from early concept to scaling venture. His work includes conducting both high-level as well as localized market research that is based on first-hand evidence and feedback from stakeholders, developing and executing go-to-market strategies, acquiring the necessary resources for a venture’s next step, and helping to secure the first sales of a new product or service.
With technology and innovation taking a more central role in Vermont’s economy, Will believes there is great opportunity ahead for many of the communities and businesses in the Northeast and is fully prepared to embrace new horizons with a goal of building a more thriving future.
“I am constantly motivated by the inspiring and creative people I get to work with every day, and for the rare opportunity we have to help build a more thriving world as our future,” Will concludes. “Collaborating with innovators and entrepreneurs to better understand their venture together, building a strategy to achieve their goals, and putting that plan into action opens a world of possibilities. Helping my clients transform an idea into a successful impact or venture is the fulfillment of my own dream.”
For more information and resources from VtSBDC, visit www.vtsbdc.org.
(Photo: BenMCollins.com)
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