Last week, The Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota named Joel Ronning, CEO of Digital River, Inc. “Entrepreneur of the Year.”  The remarkable thing about this award, made during the school’s Minnesota Cup, an annual statewide competition that encourages entrepreneurial spirit, is not that it went to the founder of a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions.  It’s not that Digital River has grown to be a publicly-traded (NASDAQ: DRIV) company that manages over $3 billion in annual online sales. It’s not even that Ronning holds seven high-tech patents. It’s Ronning’s persistence.  You see, Digital River is the third company he’s founded.  This guy doesn’t give up, and he readily admits that he learns from his mistakes.  And it paid off for him.  Big time.

In a speech last fall at the University of Minnesota , Ronning tells how he recognized the shortcomings in his management style that were on display as he built his first two companies, and worked to overcome them as he created Digital River.  Although his industry is squarely in the high-tech arena, the lessons from his story are inspiring for all entrepreneurs.

Ronning founded his first company in the mid-1980’s.  He was only 20 and attending the University of Minnesota.  That firm grew to be the largest supplier of computer storage devices in the Macintosh market, and taught him how to develop, market and merchandise new products.  He even raised one million dollars through private placements.  The company had strong sales and quick growth, but was troubled by high returns.  He learned that he must pay attention to the back office aspects of finance and operations.

He started his second firm with $10,000 of his own credit card capital, and $30,000 from friends.  But one of his first hires was an accountant, and Ronning dedicated himself to the science of the company’s operations and finance.  That company did so well that he was able to purchase his first company, which he integrated into the second.

Along the way, he observed that for his business, holding inventory could be problematic.  That, along with his other wisdom, gave way to the insights that became the basis for Digital River, which he began in 1994.  Digital River designs, builds, manages and grows e-commerce systems for more than 40,000 clients worldwide.  It has also branched out into hard goods and consumer electronics retailers.

Ronning built a global business that builds and manages online businesses for some of the world’s biggest brands.  He did it by being willing to not only recognize his shortcomings, but also dedicated to overcome them.  Thank you, Joel Ronning, for inspiring the rest of us.