Our roundup of the latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:

Interior design firm coming to Church Square

Interior design company Katie Rosenfeld and Company is opening an appointment-only storefront design studio later this month at 26 Church Street in the former Fat Face space. Rosenfeld and her team are known for their no-holds-barred approach to color and pattern, and creating spaces that are happy and family-friendly. In an email Rosenfeld said, “We have projects all over the country in New England, Florida, California, Wisconsin, Chicago and beyond.” She says many of the firm’s favorite projects are right here in Wellesley, which as of next week she will call home with a move to the Country Club neighborhood.

The Church Square vicinity of Wellesley seems to be turning into something of a mecca for those needing to feather their nests—E.A. Davis at 579 Washington Street also offers a full-service interior decorating studio. Meanwhile, as we reported in spring, Hedi’s Furniture is readying to occupy 572 Washington St., the former home of J.Todd Gallery. The doors haven’t yet opened, but window snoopers will be rewarded with glimpses of furniture, home accents, and fabric swatches.

Those who take a more DIY approach to home decor could always learn how to sew up their own decorator-worthy home accents at Hipstitch, a sewing and knitting studio that expanded into Wellesley earlier this year at 20 Church Street (its Newton location is also still going strong). And long-time Church Square tenant Cachet continues to offer distinctive pieces for the home.

And don’t forget the art—Page Waterman Gallery & Framing at 592A Washington Street has your custom framing, fine art, and restoration needs covered. Gary David Hoffman’s gorgeous seaside paintings that conjure the Impressionist works of Frank Weston Benson and Childe Hassam are 20% off through July 15th.

I do believe we’ve got a home decor trend going at this end of town. So who needs the Seaport?

Roche Bros. bagging plastic

Roche Bros. raised eyes recently when plastic bags made a return to the Wellesley grocery recently, years after plastic bags were banned in town.

The Wellesley Natural Resources Commission wasn’t psyched and wrote to Roche Bros. in mid-June asking that it stop offering 4 mil plastic bags at its checkout lines—bags made from recyclable material but that can’t be recycled at the Wellesley RDF.

“As I understand it, Roche Bros has asserted that the 4 mil bags are in compliance with the Town’s bag bylaw. While this is technically accurate, I can assure you as an author of the bylaw, that the distribution of 4 mil bags is a violation of the spirit and intent of the regulation,” NRC Chair Raina McManus wrote on behalf of the commission.

Indeed, Roche Bros. has agreed to stop distributing the bags.

“We have been in contact with the NRC regarding our 4mil reusable bags. As we continue to be strong community partners, we have evaluated our practice and will be offering our customers a non-handled paper bag moving forward,” Roche Bros.’s Linda SanGiacomo wrote to us.

Lyn Evans is moving

Lyn Evans has closed its 32 Church street doors as of July 1.  According to owner Charlie White, the women’s clothing boutique will open up in fashionable new digs at another Wellesley location in the fall. Their exact landing spot is hush-hush for now, until the lease is finalized.

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Needham teacher’s novel is a delicious summer read

Needham HS social studies teacher Jenn Bouchard will be signing copies of  her debut novel First Course at Wellesley Books on Saturday, July 17, at 2pm.

Publisher TouchPoint Press summarizes the summer romance page-turner: “When four life-altering catastrophes hit in just one day—including the loss of her parents in a tragic plane crash—twenty-four-year-old Janie Whitman retreats to her family’s summer house in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Here she tries to provide stability for her older sister Alyssa and two young nieces by cooking them amazing food.

Through a mix-up with the alumni office at her parents’ alma mater, Janie meets a young high school guidance counselor named Rocky at a volunteer event, and their fast-tracked romance helps Janie to see possibilities beyond the life she had known just a few weeks prior. But with her ex-boyfriend (and former boss) making overtures beyond her wildest dreams, as well as Alyssa’s estranged husband willing to do whatever it takes to win her back, the Whitman sisters are faced with big decisions.

Despite the obstacles in their way, when Janie and Alyssa are tasked with establishing a lasting memorial for their parents, they just might find the second acts they are seeking.”

Between teaching and raising a family with her husband, it took Bouchard 7 years to finish the book. She did it by snatching writing time when she could, mostly during summers and school vacations.

Chamber awards scholarship to WHS grad

Wellesley High grad Samone Lumley, who will be attending UMass Darmouth this fall, has been awarded a scholarship from the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber.

The chamber describes Lumley as a leader with interest in writing and social justice, and she identifies herself as “an inspiring mini activist in everyday manner.”

According to the chamber: Her internship through METCO in 2020 has made an impact in her social justice education and efforts as the internship focused on the de facto segregation in Boston Public Schools. This opportunity allowed her to have a unique experience to teach through her words and actions about people of color throughout the years and how METCO was founded. In this work she recognizes that the segregation in Boston has and still has an effect on surrounding cities and towns. While navigating senior year through the pandemic, she too had unfortunately experienced a loss in a family member to COVID-19 – her father, which has left her and her family in difficult times.”

In prior years the chamber has awarded scholarships to graduating seniors who reside or attend school in Newton or Needham. Newly added this year is a third scholarship to a high school senior in Wellesley.

Wellesley banker to chair Mass Bankers Association

Dedham Savings President and CEO Peter Brown has been elected chair of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, an organization that’s been around for 100-plus years. Brown himself has been in the banking industry for 40 years.

Among the group’s missions is “expanding social and economic access and equality,” according to Brown.

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Advertising index

We appreciate all of our advertising support. It helps cover the cost of running The Swellesley Report and providing an independent and community-focused news source for the town.

For information about advertising on The Swellesley Report, please email [email protected]

• Admit Fit—College admissions counseling.
• Boston Sports Institute—Multi-use recreation center at 900 Worcester St.
• Call and Haul—Junk removal, recycling, moving & delivery, pickups.
• Corcoran & Havlin Insurance Group—Coverage for home, condo, vehicle.
• Ebersole Financial LLC—An independent registered investment advisor.
• Fast Frame—Wellesley’s neighborhood frame store since 2002.
• Fay School—Private K-9 elementary and middle school.
• Feldman Family Law—Confidential counseling and advice.
• Greentail Table—Resource for wedding, hostess, and housewarming gifts.
• iCode—K-12 programs in computer science.
• Jesamondo—Experience inner peace and outer beauty.
• Linden Square—Lifestyle. Location.
• London Harness—Find the perfect gift.
• Needham Bank—Build something.
• Page Waterman, Gallery & Framing—Anything is possible.
• Pinnacle Residential Properties—We’re your smartest move.
• Salon 23 West—Upstairs from ordinary.
• Sexton Test Prep & Tutoring—Superior service. Outstanding results.
• The Langham, Boston—Celebrate the everyday at the re-imagined luxury hotel.
• Maloney Properties—Apply for affordable home ownership.
• The Moving Pictures Company—Wedding/event photography & video.
• The TUMI Store—Find the perfect gift.
• Bernardi Volvo Cars Natick—910 Worcester Street, Natick.
• Wellesley Square Merchants—Directory of restaurants, stores, services.
• Wellesley Theatre Project—Exceptional performing arts education.

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Bill Seibel during the many years we’ve crossed paths from Wellesley’s ballfields to cocktail parties is that he can tell a story. He seemingly has an endless supply, with each more interesting or entertaining than the next. So it didn’t surprise me when he added “author” to his LinkedIn profile in announcing the launch of his first book, Press Go – Lessons Earned by a Serial Entrepreneur. He describes the launch as “intended to be a business book that’s fun to read.”

I haven’t had a chance to read the book yet, but I did shoot Bill a handful of questions to get a bit of background, a sneak peek of the book, and his advice for new grads.

If you’re interested in ordering a copy, and you live in Wellesley, Bill’s going to donate 100% of royalties from those sales until the end of May to Wellesley Friendly Aid.

By the way, the last time I formally interviewed Bill was 10 year ago when he was launching a company called Mobiquity with headquarters in Wellesley at the time.

When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I grew up in a coal mining town southwest of Pittsburgh. My grandfather was a coal miner, my father was a steelworker—and the 6 of us all lived together in a 2-bedroom company house. Almost everyone I knew as a child was either a steel worker or a coal miner. I was twelve years old when I first heard the word “entrepreneur.” At the time, my mother was competing in a weekly Pittsburgh Post-Gazette puzzle contest where the editors scrambled the letters of an occupation. I remember the contest’s final week. Sitting with my mother at the kitchen table, we opened the newspaper and saw “tuepenerernr” staring at us from the last page of the business section. “Entrepreneur,” she declared without hesitation. “What does an entrepreneur do?” I asked, not quite pronouncing it correctly. “They have an idea that they turn into a company and make millions of dollars doing it,” Mom replied. It was clear to me that entrepreneurship would be a better path than working in the coal mines or steel mills. But it wasn’t at all clear how I could get there.

What was your first startup, and how did that come about? 

After grad school, I joined a Fortune 100 chemical and industrial gas company. I was there for 12 years, did very well, became Director of both Materials Management and Information Technology, and learned a lot. But I longed for a chance to make more impact on a business than an IT executive could have at [such a large] company. I hoped I’d find my passion in the world of startups and left to join McCormack & Dodge as general manager of one of their businesses. Everything was so different! And so much better! The energy, the passion for the corporate mission, the feeling that we could make
decisions and get things done, and of course the beer kegs in the lobby that were tapped at 6 p.m. every Thursday and Friday—it was just as the twelve-year-old “tuepenerernr” had pictured life at a startup!

My impression is that most of your startups are not household names. My guess is in business school you hear lots of case studies about well-known companies and that’s where all the focus is, but the reality is that most people wind up starting and working for companies less well known but that are successes in their own right. Any thoughts on this?

There are a lot of startups, and their track records are not very good. Only 1% ever get funded. Of that 1%, close to 90% die are become the walking dead, And only 1% become Unicorns–startups that reach a value of more than $1B. Of the 12 million companies launched in the US during the last twenty years, only 145 are unicorns. Although perhaps not household names, I’ve been blessed that I’ve played a role in startups that had an impact. McCormack & Dodge was a pioneer and the early leader in Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP), a field that became dominated by household names like SAP and Oracle. Index created a new industry when they launched Excelerator in 1984–the first PC- based computer-aided software engineering tool. It was named Software Product of the Year in 1987, and Index Technology went public in 1988. Cambridge Technology Partners created the fixed-price/fixed-timeframe consulting model, was named the #2 IPO in 1992, and reached a market cap of more than $5B. ZEFER followed in its footsteps until the market crash of 2000–growing to $136M revenue in only 18 months–the fastest growing professional services firm ever. That was followed by Demantra, a predictive analytics company that paved the way for the Sales and Operations Planning industry. Soon after we won the award for the top business turnaround in the United States we were acquired by Oracle. More recently, Mobiquity was named the fastest growing company in all of New England, New England’s Top Small Business and, my favorite, One of the 3 Coolest Technology Companies on the Planet! So, for me, it’s not about creating a “brand name.” I get a huge professional high from building something new and important. A company that provides significant values to the businesses, consumers and/or patients that it works with. A company that creates professional opportunities for employees that substantially contributes to their personal and career ambitions. And if the company can drive innovation and overturn conventional thinking by redefining an industry–that’s the biggest high a CEO can get!

Let’s localize this. What could Wellesley do to encourage more entrepreneurship in town, and how might that benefit the community?

If you look at what makes entrepreneurship flourish in the Silicon Valley, New York and yes, in Boston, it’s having a network of experienced entrepreneurs that are willing to help those that are contemplating, or just beginning their journey. A huge number of experienced and successful entrepreneurs live in Wellesley. I’d suggest organizing a platform that could bring those groups together. For example, at Mobiquity we worked with Wellesley High School students to help them explore their startup ideas. Their mentors enjoyed it and the students learned a lot.

Your book’s about your lessons learned as an entrepreneur: Can you sneak preview a couple?

The most important entrepreneurial lessons are life lessons as well. I’ll start with 7:
1. Always do the right thing. Even if the other party doesn’t.
2. Both in business and in life, the simpler plan is often better.
3. Don’t start a company unless it’s your passion. If you do what you love, success will follow.
4. The first step in doing something is believing you can do it. Never give up your dreams. The first step in achieving them is to believe that they’re possible.
5. Life, at times, will be a struggle. It takes courage to change directions—especially when things aren’t going too badly. Don’t be afraid to get out of your
comfort zone. The real measure of anyone’s ability to succeed is how good they are at executing Plan B—because Plan A seldom happens.
6. Make everyone feel special, and never let anyone down.
7. But my favorite advice came from a newspaper advertisement from none other than ABE Carpet Cleaners:

If you were chosen to give a commencement speech at a business school, what would you tell grads?

I’d tell them to not begin their careers by joining a startup. I benefited quite a lot from the training and developmental opportunities that I gained at the F100 company that I joined after I received my MBA. And the data supports that. The highest success rate for a new entrepreneur occurs for those in their 40’s and 50’s.

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