Forbes Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007, Clint Severson spoke to Start Up Minot Academy participants at one of the hands-on sessions designed to provide tools, insights and relationships needed to implement their business ideas.

A Minot native and 1973 graduate of Minot State University, Severson had honed his business skills in the produce department at Miracle Mart grocery, then later at Ace Hardware and Minot’s Chevrolet dealership before leaving Minot in search of opportunity.

“When I took off, we had inflation that was 15-16%. Unemployment was 10%. The economy was a disaster. And so entering the workforce at that point in time would seem to be a difficult proposition. But the fact is, there’s so much opportunity in a free market system that that’s not necessarily the case if you know what you want,” he said. “I knew healthcare was the area I wanted to be in because in the ’70s, it was growing fast.”

Upon relocating to California, Severson worked for various companies, gaining sales experience that enabled him to eventually buy into his own business ventures. His first was an enterprise that provided tests for allergies using blood samples, which sold to 3M. Severson continued to run the company for 3M for four more years.

Jill Schramm/MDN Entrepreneur Clint Severson, who founded and served as president of the medical company Abaxis, speaks to participants at the Start Up Minot Academy Thursday in the Carnegie Center, Minot.

He eventually bought into a competitor company and worked there until it sold to a Japanese chemical company. That led to the start of Abaxis, where he served as president and CEO before selling in 2018 for $2 billion.

Speaking to Start Up Minot participants on the strategies behind product pricing, Severson discussed the importance of getting into the right market and building relationships with consumers.

“We had a lot of challenges with prices,” he said of Abaxis, which sold a medical test that could rapidly produce blood chemistry results. Medicare’s restraint on prices and other factors in the market left his fledgling company with an initial profit margin of -50%.

Unable to raise investment with that margin, he targeted veterinarians but struggled to compete with his new technology against existing technologies that already had a foothold. However, there was no competition in the rural veterinary market, which contracted out its testing because existing technology was too labor intensive for them to conduct in-house. That gave Abaxis an opportunity to meet a need and make a profit. Meanwhile, Abaxis worked to lower its costs significantly, eventually enabling it to compete in the medical market.

Severson also used the example of his investment into a California wine business to emphasize the importance of finding your market. He converted the business from wholesale to consumer-direct. It involved structural changes in the way the company marketed, but positioning the business to compete on the quality of its products made the difference between profit and bankruptcy.

In 2010, Severson and Conni Ahart donated $1 million to create the Severson Entrepreneurship Academy in the MSU College of Business. In 2016, they made another $2 million donation to the academy.

Although they have other residences around the country, they maintain a home in Minot. Spending time in Minot enables them to support causes they are close to, such as animal shelter services, the zoo and MSU women’s hockey.

Severson is one of a number of local, successful entrepreneurs and business people who have been enlisted to address the first cohort of the Start Up Minot Academy during the 10-week sessions that started in January.

Start Up Minot also hosts a monthly business showcase and networking event. The next event will be Feb. 10 at 7:30 a.m. in the Carnegie Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The program is backed by a regional coalition that seeks to support anyone interested in growing or starting a business. Coalition members include the Small Business Development Center, Minot Area Chamber EDC, MSU Severson Entrepreneurship Academy, Strengthen ND, Creedence Energy, Souris Basin Planning Council, Dakota Business Lending and others.