When Chris Fanini dropped out of Penn State in 2007 to start a company in San Francisco, his parents were shocked.
“I remember the day he called me and said, ‘Mom, I’m dropping out of school to go to San Francisco and start a company,’” says Ruth Anderson, his mother. “And I said, ‘What? You can’t do that!’”
But he did, and with the benefit of hindsight, it was clearly a great decision. Fanini is co-founder of Weebly, a web-hosting service that provides a simple platform that anyone can use to build their own website.
In its most recent round of fundraising, Weebly was valued at nearly a half billion dollars by investors. But the success didn’t distract Fanini from finishing his degree. On Saturday afternoon he donned a blue cap and gown and walked across the Eisenhower Auditorium stage for his commencement ceremony.
“It was great. It was really cool to finish something that I started, so I got to see it through to completion and know I’m now officially a part of Penn State as an alumni,” Fanini says. “To come up here and walk and actually know it’s the real deal is pretty nice.”
As exciting as the graduation ceremony was for Fanini, the best part was the moment he shared with Weebly co-founder David Rusenko, who served as the commencement speaker at the IST ceremony. The irony wasn’t lost on either man. It was Rusenko who initially convinced Fanini to drop out of school eight years ago.
“I called up Chris and asked if he would want to drop out of college and move to San Francisco to work on the company and he said yes right away,” Rusenko says.
And yet there Fanini was, shaking Rusenko’s hand on stage, two business partners and successful Penn State alumni sharing a moment together.
“It was pretty surreal,” Fanini says. “I would have never imagined he’d be up there with me.”
While they were a bit surprised by the decision Fanini made in 2007, his parents were beaming with pride after the ceremony ended Saturday afternoon.
“As successful as Chris and the company have become coming out of Penn State, this was still something that both Ruth and I were holding out for him to get,” says Fred Fanini, his father. “This is a great day. He was taking a big chance moving across the country. It was a little nerve-wracking initially but we stood behind him and supported him of course. We both felt he was going to do fine.”
It wouldn’t be too much of a problem for Fanini these days, but his father did have one stipulation when he decided to leave school.
“One of the things I held over Chris’s head was that if he didn’t graduate, he would have to reimburse me for his college tuition,” he says. “He remembers that and I think that was part of his motivation as well.”
As they return to Penn State, the two Weebly founders had the chance to walk through a very different campus. There were some aesthetic changes from their time here, but the most notable change they noted was Penn State’s growing entrepreneurial environment.
President Eric Barron has put $30 million into an entrepreneurship and economic development initiative at the university, helping student start-up companies like the one founded by Fanini and Rusenko.
“I think it’s amazing. There are so many talented people here in State College and there’s a lot of great opportunities,” Fanini says. “I love the focus on entrepreneurship and I think it will be transformative. I think we’ll see the results over the next five to 10 years. My hope is Penn State becomes known for entrepreneurship and becomes a place where hopeful entrepreneurs go to learn and start their companies.”
That certainly worked for Fanini and Rusenko, along with fellow co-founder Dan Vetri. The trio of Weebly leaders all officially hold Penn State degrees now, and they are certainly shining success stories for the university.
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