A complete range of entrepreneurs -- from eager college freshmen to battled-scarred business veterans -- are finding common ground in the 5:01 Entrepreneur Society.

Michael Jablon, director of sales and marketing for Appareo Systems, a startup company based in NDSU's Research I, is impressed by how openly 5:01 presenters share keys to success and lessons learned from mistakes. "I've attended a few events and I thought they were phenomenal," Jablon said. "When Feed Management Systems told its story, I was absolutely floored with what they were sharing ... telling how they were all bad and bleeding and how they turned things around. It was the best business review I had ever seen outside the privacy of board room."

Inaugurated in September 2002, the 5:01 Entrepreneur Society is doing what NDSU Research and Technology Park executive director Tony Grindberg hoped it would. People -- entrepreneurs, scientists, businessmen and women, investors and students -- are sharing ideas. They are inspiring each other. And they are working together.

Thanks to the gift of an anonymous donor, the society also is providing special guidance to five NDSU freshmen. Selected for their academic excellence, the scholarship winners must participate in the society. After attending their first meeting this fall, scholarship recipients Seth Froyum and Jessica Ryant say that's not going to be a problem.

The society opened its 2004-2005 season with an event in NDSU's Research II. "We toured the entire facility. We even suited-up for tours of the cleanrooms and saw how the whole air-filtering system works. It's pretty cool," said Ryant, a food science and biochemistry major from Mahnomen, Minn.

"It's nice to get away from the typical classroom and see what you can look forward to after you graduate," said Froyum, a mechanical engineering major from Zumbrota, Minn. "Practical, hands-on information is huge."

Neither Froyum nor Ryant were entrepreneurially inclined before receiving the $2,000-per-year scholarships. However, being awarded financial support -- in the name of entrepreneurship -- and seeing the 5:01 Society in action, has them considering possibilities. "I thought I'd like to be an engineer, working for another company," Froyum said, "but this makes me think about starting my own business. When you've got experienced business people taking you through the steps, it makes you think that maybe you could do this."

For those already turning dreams into reality, Jablon believes the society offers candid insights. For instance in a 5:01 presentation hosted at PRAC's Institute, Gerald Finken of Clinical Supplies Management shed light on how too much business actually can be a bad thing. Jablon said it underscored a basic principle: "You need to plan for cash flow. It's one of those concepts that we all hear and read about. Yet here was a team of bright and talented experts, with a successful product, who thought they were doing the right thing closing on more new business, only to find out that what they were doing was actually putting the company at risk."

The former manager of SEI Information Technology in Fargo and an NDSU business graduate, Jablon may one day reveal to society members how Appareo handled the development and launching of its cutting-edge augmented reality solution. "Within the next several months we'll be announcing our new product to the world, but due to intellectual property rules we aren't able to publicly disclose any details just yet," he said, "which is another lesson I'm sure we will share when it is our turn at an upcoming 5:01."

Remaining 5:01 Entrepreneur Society meeting sponsors and dates in 2005 are: March 8 -- Eide Bailly; and April 26 -- Flint Communications. To register online, visit www.ndsuresearchpark.com/info/events_services.epl.