Matt Younkle on Failure, Persistence & Grounded Optimism

Entrepreneur Matt Younkle shares how early setbacks with TurboTap shaped his approach to risk, resilience and building new ventures with disciplined optimism.

Matt Younkle's earliest commercial venture -- a product called "TurboTap" that poured beer faster -- almost didn't happen. His first product demo for Anheuser-Busch did not go well. But Younkle came back to TurboTap as a more seasoned entrepreneur years later, and after a successful demo at Chicago's Wrigley Field his sales took off. From this and other experiences Younkle has adopted an attitude of "grounded optimism:" enthusiasm for the future tempered by a strong business sense. It's serving him well for his newest venture, Murfie.com, a marketplace for music collectors. Here Younkle talks with the University of Wisconsin's Jon Eckhardt about his journey as an entrepreneur.