Dan's Papers - August 22, 2008

Just five houses separated the childhood homes of Dennis Lynch and Billy Joel in Hicksville. The two men are 20 years apart in age and had never met until a few weeks ago when Dennis interviewed on-camera the music legend for a documentary on the Hamptons that he is producing. Like Joel, Lynch never graduated from college; in fact, he dropped out on five separate occasions and never earned one credit. Nevertheless, he's been CEO of three separate multi-million dollar companies that he started from scratch. It's for this reason Ernst and Young awarded him the prestigious "Entrepreneur of The Year" award in 2000, and why John Sculley, the former CEO of Apple and Pepsi, hand-picked Lynch as a business partner.

To say Lynch has the ability to quickly create something from nothing would be an understatement. He's an idea guy who understands that concepts come to life by being hands-on. Equal parts thinker and doer, Lynch prides himself on being "future ready," a term he coined to describe himself. He calls the East End his home away from home, which he has every right to do, considering his house in East Hampton has been in his family for 100 years.

He purchased the house from his grandfather with a promise of keeping it in the family. The house was old and needed updating, and Lynch decided to do the work himself while spending summers there. His new status as a local provided a new perspective of the area.

On the first day of high school he met the love of his life whom he married and is still with today. He credits his love for Mary as the fuel that drove him to find success. "I played baseball in high school and later tried out for the Expos and the White Sox, but didn't make it," said Lynch. "I attended college but I hated school. I wasn't making much of an impression on Mary's father and I knew my only chance of keeping her was to start my own company."

Lynch started Techsmart, a computer asset recovery company, in 1991. "I borrowed $2,000 from my mother and starting working out of her garage. Within months I had my first warehouse and worked around the clock, often sleeping on the warehouse floor to eliminate lost travel time. Within a few years I had four warehouses and hundreds of employees." His rags-to-riches story made headlines in The Wall Street Journal, Newsday and The New York Times. He was also profiled on CNN, CNBC and ABC News for his remarkable accomplishments.

Although Techsmart became the largest computer asset recovery business in the country, Lynch paid a price. "I was working nonstop. I gained 50 pounds. I remember being on my laptop in the delivery room when I should have been helping my wife give birth to our son. It wasn't my finest hour. Then a few weeks later I was hospitalized for seven days with pneumonia and high fevers that were caused by my being overworked. I thought I was going to die. I made the decision to resign from the company I started."

After a few months rest, Lynch teamed with John Sculley to start a marketing consulting firm called Signature 21 on Park Avenue. He worked side-by-side with Sculley and as a result, got a real-life marketing education he could never have attained in college. Lynch despised the role of consultant, however, and often dreaded the work.

During the tragic day of September 11, 2001, he found himself in downtown New York, running from a collapsing World Trade Center. "The next day I told John I was done consulting and vowed to never spend another moment doing something I did not love or that prevented me from being with my family. And as an athlete, I swore to regain a healthy lifestyle. Within a few months, I lost the 50 pounds."

With a lifelong love of film, in 2005 Lynch enrolled at the New York Film Academy to learn digital filmmaking. The day he graduated, he combined his new love for filmmaking with his entrepreneurial spirit and started www.TV360.tv, a digital filmmaking company. Today, TV360.tv is the largest network of freelance filmmakers in the world, with approximately 17,000 members. His client list includes names like ABC News, Johns Hopkins, Disney and T-FAL.

Although TV360.tv headquarters are in Manhattan, Lynch hasn't forgotten to love what he does. He spends most of his time running the company from his home-based offices in East Hampton and Massapequa, his main residence. "It's a perfect setup, especially in the summer. I do my work in the morning then take my kids out to the same beach I went to as a kid, Indian Wells in Amagansett. Last year we were at Indian Wells swimming next to Alec Baldwin who was born and raised in Massapequa. I introduced myself, and we spoke about Massapequa as if we knew each other for years."

Lynch's passion for digital filmmaking has not stopped with www.TV360.tv, as he has been working on a major documentary about the Hamptons. "The film focuses on how and why the Hamptons is the greatest place on earth. In the film so far are Christie Brinkley, Chuck Scarborough, Alec Baldwin, John Roland, Dan Rattiner, of course, Billy Joel, Mercedes Ruehl, Jay Schneiderman and others. But just as importantly I have interviewed local merchants and residents, and when I'm all done, the film will show the world what the Hamptons is really about. No film has ever done that before, in my opinion."

As the interview came to an end, Lynch got ready to go. But this time, not to a work commitment. "I'm going to spend the rest of the day with my wife and kids," he said. "I'll be bringing my video camera, of course."