Lots of entrepreneurs would like to pick Chip Conley's brain. But when several dozen gathered in November to meet the founder of Joie de Vivre, a boutique hotel chain that he said had $220 million in revenue last year, their questions were not just about the nuts and bolts of running a company.
They also asked: How do you come out of the closet in your business? And how do you handle investors who might be uncomfortable with your vocal support of gay rights?
Conley, 49, who came out four years before he opened his first hotel, the Phoenix, in 1987, recounted steering such investors to the website of Kimpton Hotels, a competitor that promotes its support for gay employees.
Then he told them that one of Kimpton's biggest investors was a former Senate Republican leader, Bill Frist. That example, Conley recalled, was enough to ease the investors' concerns.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Building a network of gay entrepreneurs - San Jose Mercury News
Author: Jessica Bruder
