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Mavericks DevonPark Driven Even after 60 years, venture capital leaders Steve Zarrilli and Pete Musser are still identifying game-changing innovators

Zarrilli (left) and Musser

FOR THE PAST 60 YEARS, Safeguard Scientifics has helped to make Gamespeed Digital Marketing, a digital software company also locathundreds of companies successful. The company provides growth caped at the Safeguard campus, is one of The Musser Group’s newest venital to innovative health-care and technology companies in the tures. “If you’re a new business startup and striving to take it to the next Philadelphia region and beyond. level, Pete Musser is the man to turn to for guidance and structure,” says At its peak—the height of Internet-based stocks in the late 1990s— Jon Showers, founder and chief creative officer of Gamespeed Digital MarSafeguard Scientifics had $100 billion worth of public companies. Loketing. “When Pete Musser gets behind you, incredible things start to hapcated at the Safeguard Corporate Campus in Wayne, Safepen. We feel fortunate and blessed to have this industry icon guard Scientifics was founded by entrepreneur Warren V. see our company as something viable and necessary.” “Pete” Musser in 1953, currently president and chief execSays Musser, “Of all of the businesses I’ve put together, by KAREN Gamespeed has one of the strongest business strategies and utive officer of The Musser Group, a financial consulting comAPPOLD team of very experienced professionals.” pany that also advises young growth companies. photography by Paul Reitano When choosing a company to work with, Musser says he Both firms are located at 435 Devon Park Drive in Wayne, looks for a startup company that is headed by enthusiastic, a beautifully wooded 142,000-square-foot campus that was knowledgeable entrepreneurs with a good idea. Gameonce wholly owned by Safeguard. speed’s founders, Jon Showers and John Zeglinski, are professional sports The Man Who Makes Millionaires marketers who have identified a need and developed a powerful new To many in the greater Philadelphia region, Musser is an industry icon. fundraising tool for the nonprofit industry. Set to launch their business He was integral to the creation and/or success of such Philadelphia in March 2013, Gamespeed promises to be a game changer in the indusstaples as Comcast, QVC, Nutrisystem, ICG and Sanchez Computer try. Their brand-integrated turnkey digital marketing program will provide Associates. After 60 years in the business world, Musser, 86, is still identhe 1.8 million nonprofits in the United States with a seamless way to entifying new technologies. gage digital donors. 38

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FEBRUARY 2013

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Higgins II, a.k.a. “Chairman of the Floor”

A New Man at the Top Musser remained CEO of Safeguard Scientifics until 2001. On November 1, 2012, Stephen T. Zarrilli succeeded Peter J. Boni as president and CEO. Previously, Zarrilli was chief financial officer of Safeguard Scientifics. As the new CEO, Zarrilli wants to re-establish Safeguard Scientifics locally as one of the premier capital providers not only in the Philadelphia area but in the Mid-Atlantic region as well. “We want to be the place in Philly where an entrepreneur seeks capital,” Zarrilli says. “We want to be a real destination for people looking to grow their business.” Zarrilli met Musser in 1996 when he was looking for initial capital for U.S. Interactive, a technology company that was also located at the Safeguard campus. “My relationship with Pete has grown over the years,” Zarrilli says. “For the last eight years we have served together on the board of Nutrisystem, and he has been a significant mentor in guiding my business career.” Zarrilli shares three guiding principles he learned from Musser. No. 1: Ensure that you have empathy for the employees and companies you interact with. No. 2: Establish a common relationship with companies you are helping to grow. “Capital is important, but also recognize the value that you can bring to other areas,” Zarrilli John Zeglinski, co-founder says. “Be a mentor to CEOs and and chief marketing officer of management teams where possiGamespeed Digital Marketing ble; help them to achieve goals by helping them to solve business problems. Don’t just think money will solve all growth needs.” And No. 3: Don’t be afraid to take a risk; go with your gut. The formula has worked well for Safeguard Scientifics. Zarrilli attributes the company’s success to its ability to provide resources beyond capital to its partner companies, including operational support, marketing support and financial or legal support. Today, Safeguard Scientifics has approximately 20 partner companies; most are located in the MidAtlantic region. Nearly one-fifth of them are headquartered in the Philadelphia area, including NuPathe (NASDAQ:PATH), Beyond.com and ThingWorx. Safeguard Scientifics continues to principally focus on technology and health-care companies.

435 Devon Park Drive If Safeguard Scientifics is the go-to source for capital, then being located at the Safeguard Corporate Campus is an ideal place to make it happen. “We want to try to use this campus as a hub of activity for entrepreneurial endeavors,” Zarrilli says. “We are working with our landlord to see our vision come to fruition.” Safeguard Scientifics occupies a significant portion of Building 800 and may extend its footprint in the business park. The campus includes eight low-rise buildings built between the early 1980s and 2000s. It’s an ideal location, with plenty of parking, just one mile to the King of Prussia shopping district and very close to Routes 76, 202, 422 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. According to Jeff Mack, Partner at Newmark (leasing group for the campus), “People love the environment at the Safeguard Campus. There’s a mix of “friends and family” companies including the start-up Gamespeed, to the headquarters for Safeguard Scientifics, Johnson Matthey (US), and TL Ventures. Most companies have their own building, and the windows open!” On any given day, Musser can be seen strolling the Safeguard Scientifics campus, with his golden retriever Higgins II—a.k.a., “Chairman of the Floor”—alongside him.

‘‘ If you’re a new business startup and striving to take it to the next level, Pete Musser is the man to turn to for guidance and structure.” —Jon Showers, founder and chief creative officer of Gamespeed Digital Marketing

More Secrets of Success Musser earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University. He says he pursued that degree because it gave him “a broad background that allowed me to do anything I wanted to pursue.” When deciding which companies he will work with, Musser says, “I look for chances to take something relatively small and with modest amounts of money and create real wealth. You want them to be worth something sizable themselves and create public value so everyone who is a stockholder benefits.” Safeguard Scientifics refers to every company in its portfolio as a partner company, and owns anywhere between 20 and 50 percent of each. They make employees a part of every business they are a part of. ■

For information about 435 Devon Park Drive, Safeguard Corporate Campus, contact LV Real Estate Advisors by reaching Beth Vopper at 610-337-7619. For leasing information, contact Reid Blynn or Beth Maggitti Dixon of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank at 610-265-0600.