Intuition, optimism keys to success for Gen-X entrepreneur Jared Polis

BOULDER — Entrepreneur of Distinction. Appropriate title for a 25-year-old Boulder kid?

Perhaps, if he’s Jared Schutz Polis, who has served as leader of or founder to more than a handful of companies, starting with a scrap metal operation in high school.

“Jared definitely stands out as one of the strongest and most successful entrepreneurs in the country today,” says Princeton classmate, friend and business associate David Mejias. “At such an early age, Jared has managed to accomplish more than most people could accomplish in a few lifetimes.”

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Mejias doesn’t think his friend’s youth should be the center point of his notoriety, though. “I think his distinction lies in his unique business genius and his ability to have others believe in his vision,” Mejias, also 25, says. Mejias met Polis in 1995. Both were involved in an awareness campaign for the effects of California’s Proposition 187, which would limit services to undocumented immigrants. Mejias went on to work with Polis in three businesses, including the newest, online retailer FrogMagic, which launched in August.

“He has an incredible intuition and knows how to carefully assess and utilize the potential of individuals he works with,” Mejias says. “Folks that work with Jared always comment on his ability to trust the people he works with, to always come through with strong business decisions and ultimately, positive progress.”

If you’re from around here, Polis’ name rings a bell. He was the mastermind behind a nearly $1 billion deal involving his parent’s brainchild, Blue Mountain Arts, a greeting card company. Polis sold his own Web-based version, BlueMountain.com, to Excite@Home last year. Not bad for a guy who just wanted to be a scientist when he grew up.

Polis now runs three e-tail businesses: FrogMagic, Dan’s Chocolates and Proflowers.com, as well as a venture capital firm, JPS International. “I think I’m done playing executive management roles in companies,” he says, adding that he now engages more in the role of chairman. As if that weren’t enough, Polis will find out Nov. 7 whether he is the next member of the Colorado State Board of Education.

Why would a guy without kids want to guide the education of Colorado students? “I would never consider running for this statewide office if I had children. The time away from family would simply not be worth it,” he cautions. “As a young person, I have a vested interest in the future of Colorado and want to make a positive difference in public education.”

His advice to those children on succeeding in life: “Stay optimistic and don’t let stress get to you. Be happy and humble and thankful and work hard to fulfill your potential.” The secret to his own successes in business is far more old-fashioned than any of the companies he has had a hand in: “Hard work, bold visions and being competent in the right place at the right time in the right industry.”

Optimism is the cornerstone of how he does business, Polis says. The entrepreneurial spirit is not grabbing for everything you can get. Instead, Polis says, it’s “the desire to change things for the better, to innovate and create something out of nothing that affects a lot of people.”

That kind of talk is more indicative of the flower-smelling, laid back children of the 1960s than the stereotyped apathetic, weary young people of the 21st century. If Polis represents the so-called Generation X, have we cast this generation in the wrong mold? Or is he somehow caught in the filter?

Who knows, but in five or 10 years, he says he’ll be doing the same thing, “keeping busy changing the world for the better.” When Polis says what he most wants to be known for, it isn’t a $1 billion deal or a multimillion-dollar portfolio. Rather, he says, it would be “making a positive difference for humanity.”

The self-professed sci-fi junkie can think of only one thing that would make life complete for him – for it to be an eternal one.