Entrepreneur Company - Essay Example

Entrepreneur Company of the of the of the Entrepreneur Company Recently, I had one of the most enriching experiences of my life, when I met the profound founder of the Bill Barrett Corporation, Mr. William J. "Bill" Barrett. He is an entrepreneur who is responsible for founding the company in 2002. The company went public in 2004 and Mr. Barrett stepped down as chairman. His son, Fredrick J. Barrett, succeeded him in 2006 (Bill Barrett Corporation, “Goldman Sachs Global Energy Conference”). The core business of the company thrilled me, which is why I have chosen this for the assignment. The company operates in natural gas and oil exploitation in the Rocky Mountains. This is one of the rare companies, which have had the courage to explore the virgin territory of natural gas in the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Barett decided to meet me in an old coffee shop at the corner of the road and allotted me an hour to complete my task. 2) The company operates in the Rocky Mountains, one of the most endowed places in the U.S., which abounds in natural gas. The company did not restrict itself only in the field of natural gas and has ventured into refining oil too. Two reasons had resulted in success of the company: Firstly, strategic location of the points, where it had set up its drilling inventory, has been propelling growth. The company strongly believes that these points have huge reserves and will result in generation of revenues. Secondly, long lived projects designed by the company, which it chooses to name as “unconventional plays”, are estimated to produce for 30 years or more as they have large reserve potential. Bill Barrett Corporation has spread its operation over five major basins of Rocky and Mr. Barrett proudly informs that the company has proved its mettle and emerged as a dominant player in most areas it operates in and is also the largest, in terms of coverage area, he added. The company is particularly interesting because it maintains a strong balance between developmental and exploration projects. 3) Mr. Barrett informed that when the company was first set up, the main objective of was to establish it as an exploration company in a true sense, so as to tap natural resources of the Rocky and emerge as one of the dominant players among the Rockies E&P company. After more than ten years of operation, the company has gone from strength to strength to establish itself as one of the most significant players in its genre. The claims made by Mr. Barett are backed by the current evidences, like, proved reserves of 197 MMBoe, including 88% growths in proved reserves at three active oil programs. The financial performance of the company is quite robust as the figures indicate. For instance, total debt of the company has reduced by $189 million from 2012, in 2013 (Bill Barrett Corporation, “Bill Barrett Corporation”). The closing of the West Tavaputs deal is also considered as one of the milestones of the company in 2013 (Oil and Gas Financial Journal, “Bill Barrett closes on West Tavaputs sale”). Considering these figures, it can be said that Mr. Barett has been quite successful in empowering the company by helping it to achieve its goals. 4) The fact, that Mr. Barrett was a geologist and an entrepreneur, is the one which exited me the most. He has truly proved himself as one of the finest visionary and successful risk-lover, whose analytical insights have led him to establish one of the most prosperous business ventures. He has won numerous awards in his eventful life, which has mainly come from his leadership quality. It is this quality that has allowed him to successfully launch many exploration and production companies, ranging from the scale of medium to giant. In fact, Bill Barrett Corporation was one of his last ventures, which materialized when his sons coaxed him out of his retirement. Since the onset of his career, when he had joined the job of chief geologist at Wolf Exploration, he had a strong sense of understanding about locating potential spots of natural endowments. It is this talent and natural conviction, which has made him one of the most successful entrepreneurs of his times, in the field in which he operates. The job was followed by setting up his business and the rest is history. Besides petroleum industry, Mr. Barrett is also known for his philanthropic works, for which the Father’s Day Council had awarded him with Father of the Year in 2006; it benefited the American Diabetes Association (“Bill Barrett, 2012 Weeks Medal Recipient”). 5) One of the successes that have made Mr. Barrett very proud is winning of the National Environment Stewardship Award at the IOGCCs annual meeting (“Bill Barrett Corporation Awarded National Environmental Stewardship Award”). The company has spend considerable sum to clean up well sites neglected by previous owners, reroute and realign roads to better protect natural artefacts and fund a culture artefact inventory project. The winning of this award is indeed a significant achievement. 6) This interview had positively added to the idea of entrepreneurship in me. Entrepreneurship involves individuals with unique personality, characteristics and abilities. This realization was made by me when I chanced upon conducting this interview. Truly, Mr. Barrett is one of the unique individuals with the ability to discover new opportunities. It is this ability, which had allowed him to use various means to exploit the different resources in order to have far reaching effects. This has made me realize that in order to become an entrepreneur; a person must have a strong sense of belief in oneself and pursue his ambitions very strongly. This is exactly what was done by Mr. Barrett, right from the moment he was a novice. The passion for the work that an entrepreneur does is equally important for achieving success in any field. The passion for geology, along with hard work, was the recipe for success for Mr. William Barrett. 7) Needless to say, Mr. Barrett is a man of great position and experience. Yet, he showed no air of superiority, when I met him. He was extremely patient and kind while listening to all the questions and answered them all in greatest possible details. Though he is currently retired and is not a part of day-to-day management of the company, yet he is extremely knowledgeable regarding activities in the organization. He answered all the questions with child-like enthusiasm and overall, the interview went very well. 8) This meeting had quite a positive influence on me as my urge to become an entrepreneur has been enhanced, after the session. There are two reasons for this: Firstly, because I have learnt that love for your profession can take you to great heights, if hard work is combined with it. Secondly, anyone can become great entrepreneurs, no matter the scale of operation, if a person truly believes in himself. The conversations with Mr. Barrett have helped me to understand these basics about entrepreneurship. 9) This meeting was valuable to me, as an entrepreneurship student, because observing an entrepreneur like, Mr. William Barrett and talking to him personally, have provided me with some significant insights. This is because Mr. Barrett had a very humble background and did not receive much financial support from his family. Yet, this did not stop him from realizing his dreams. This gives anyone great confidence about the fact that becoming an entrepreneur is not unattainable or impossible. This has filled me with self-confidence and inner strength. 10) In a passing statement, Mr. Barrett mentioned about his work as a philanthropist. This greatly influenced me. This is his way of giving back to the society, which has given him so much. The fact that he has managed to indulge in humanitarian works with so much passion has moved me. Works Cited “Bill Barrett Corporation Awarded National Environmental Stewardship Award.” Bill Barrett Corporation. Denver Co, 2005. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. “Bill Barrett, 2012 Weeks Medal Recipient.” AAPG Foundation. AAPG Foundation, 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. Bill Barrett Corporation. “Bill Barrett Corporation.” Bill Barrett Corporation. 2014. PDF File. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. Bill Barrett Corporation. “Goldman Sachs Global Energy Conference.” Bill Barrett Corporation 2014. PDF File. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. Oil and Gas Financial Journal. “Bill Barrett closes on West Tavaputs sale.” Oil and Gas Financial Journal. 2014. PDF File. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. Read More