by Rachel Stengel '14, '21
On an historically cold day in January 2004, Stephen Gerard ’84 was flat on his back in the parking lot of a bargain motel. He had just spent the entire day rushing around to meetings for his new business in Northern New Jersey, Manhattan and Connecticut that led nowhere.
“It was literally one of those comedic moments where you had to laugh because it was physically and metaphorically — oh how the mighty have fallen,” Gerard says. “I picked myself back up and woke up the next day saying ‘OK, let’s do this again.’”
Stories like these anchor his new book, Stuck in the Middle Seat: The Five Phases to Becoming a Midcareer Entrepreneur, published by ForbesBooks in January. Gerard, who started his first business at 40, provides substantive — and often humorous — advice for aspiring midcareer entrepreneurs. From inception, through launch, growth and scalability, he breaks the entrepreneurial journey into five distinct phases guided by 21 laws. Anyone can start a business doing something they love, he says. It’s about looking at how it fits within someone’s life.
“Is it a side hustle as they say nowadays or something they want to gear up doing as they’re winding down from their primary career in their 60s, 70s and beyond?” he says. “It’s not retire with a pension at 60 anymore.”
He may not have had anything to show for his hard day’s work in 2004, but Gerard’s pharmaceutical benchmarking company, TGaS Advisors, quickly blossomed. To date, the company has sold more than $200 million of professional services. It was sold between 2010 and 2018 for an excess of $100 million.
Gerard was first drawn to accounting in high school. He had a profit-loss statement above his bed, while his cousin had a Farrah Fawcett poster. “I confess to being a bit of a geek,” he says, laughing. He credits his professors at Rider for preparing him to pass his CPA exam on the first shot and secure his first job with Pepsi.
Becoming an entrepreneur was born out of a moment of “forced bravery” as he likes to say. In the early 2000s, Gerard worked for two internet start ups before being fired from a third company because of downsizing. “If I didn’t get fired, I don’t know if I would have had the guts to start my own business,” he says.
TGaS Advisors, which cheekily stands for “Two Guys and Severance,” began after he consulted a folder labeled “Start Your Own Business,” where he scribbled down fleeting business ideas over the years. Nearly 20 years after its creation, Gerard helps other entrepreneurs bring their businesses to fruition as an advisor and investor. While adaptability and leadership are some of the most important characteristics for entrepreneurs, nonstop devotion is at the top of the list.
“It’s like having a child,” Gerard says. “It doesn’t go away. It cries in the middle of the night. If you’re going for it, it’s 24/7.”