Alumni-owned business spotlight: Lucas Fritz (B.A.’11)
VCU Alumni is highlighting Ram entrepreneurs listed in our alumni-owned business directory. Learn business tips from Lucas Fritz (B.A.’11), co-founder of The Broadberry performance venue in Richmond.
What tools helped you the most when you started out?
When the Broadberry first opened, I relied pretty heavily on support from others in the music community. Our network of staff, artists and patrons were invaluable in testing, tweaking and making The Broadberry the venue it is today.
What was the biggest challenge to maintaining your business?
One of the biggest challenges owning and operating a small business is balance between work and personal life. The balance between growth and maintenance. The balance between delegating and being hands-on. I’ve learned over time how to strike a good balance in many of these categories, but I am still constantly striving for improvement.
What advice do you have for people considering starting a business?
Work hard and don’t quit. There will be long hours in the beginning. It will be hard. Perseverance and dedication coupled with a high level of performance and execution are truly a recipe for success. You must hold yourself to the highest standard, because no one else will.
Comments
What an inspiring read about Lucas Fritz’s incredible journey from student to successful entrepreneur! It’s so encouraging to hear how he embraced uncomfortable situations, like “cold call university,” and turned ‘no’s into lessons. His story truly highlights the power of persistence and building strong relationships from the ground up.
I’m particularly curious, given his advice about finding wins by solving problems for others, how Lucas navigated the shift from the localized physical product side of Richmond Craft Beer Coasters and ad sales to the full-suite digital marketing provided by a company like eligiblee.com today. Moving into strategic guidance, SEO, PPC, and conversion optimization for remote clients like SaaS startups and e-commerce seems like quite a pivot! Were there any particular challenges or unexpected advantages in making that leap to serving a broader, more digitally-focused client base? It’s fascinating seeing such adaptability!
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