Chris Allison, ’83, released his third book, “Hit It!: A Tech Start-Up Story and Seven Rules for Entrepreneurs” earlier this month. Allison, an adjunct professor of business, serves as the co-director of the Allegheny College Center for Business and Economics.
Allison’s book focuses on the keys to a successful startup, Allison’s 10-year tenure as chairman and CEO of Tollgrade Communications Inc., and how his relationship with his father shaped his entrepreneurial experience.
“The book is kind of a love letter to my dad, the people that worked there and our investors, as well as a how-to book,” Allison said. “My intention is to actually give it to my Advanced Entrepreneurship students and have them use it in class.”
Part of Allison’s motivation to write the book came from the fact that he feels entrepreneurship is taught incorrectly in schools.
“Today, they teach entrepreneurs how to build up a business and sell it, rather than build a great business and run it long term,” Allison said. “The American dream used to be immigrants come to the country, build a business and hand it over to their children. People don’t do this anymore. People build businesses, and they try to do a get-rich-quick scheme. I think that you have to build businesses that will last 30 to 50 years — built to last, not built to sell.”
Tollgrade Communications, a company that sold technology to telephone companies, went from a tech start-up to a company with a market capitalization of $2 billion, Allison said.
Allison led Tollgrade Communications, during the late 90s and early 2000s, a period in which the company generated over $660 million in sales and $135 million in operating profit. Tollgrade Communications, was recognized as one of the best small and fastest growing companies in America by many business magazines, including Forbes, Fortune, and Industry Week.
Allison’s book uses his company as a case study on how to run a business successfully. It focuses on seven rules to run a business efficiently: why do you want to do it, who can help inspire you, the importance of being in a large market, always be looking to solve people’s problems, be organized, have fun, and give back.
“This book is designed to be used as a textbook as well as a manual for an entrepreneur — or it can be used in a classroom,” Allison said. “So, it is sort of a textbook because there is a lot of how-to and instructions in it.”
Writing “Hit It!” only took Allison a total of two months during summer 2024, but the idea came to him 16 years ago. He made a detailed outline and gave himself an objective of writing for two to three hours every day.
Using countless notes kept while working at Tollgrade Communications, Allison was able to begin writing about the different roles in the company as well as their history.
Allison’s other two publications are vastly different from his newest book. “You’ll Manage,” the first, focuses on his columns published in business magazines. “Snowflakes,” the second, is a work of fictional short stories he wrote.
Family is Allison’s biggest motivator, as his father was one of his main inspirations. Allison took over the company around 1995 when his father fell ill, compelled to provide financial security for his family.
Allison’s father was driven by his need to get a lot accomplished in a short period of time, as he had his first coronary artery bypass procedure when he was 37.
“His whole thing,” Allison said, “was that he wanted to prove to people that he had value.”
Allison spoke about assuming responsibility for a business, especially when connected to family.
“I have a line in the book that says, ‘Me taking credit for the success of the company is as appropriate as a rooster taking credit for the sun coming up in the morning,’” he said. “The farther away I got from it (the company), the more I felt like a bystander instead of the catalyst.”
After retiring in 2005, Allison decided to teach and began doing so at four institutions: Robert Morris University, Grove City College, Duquesne University and Allegheny College.
Not all students lived up to Allison’s expectations.
“It was draining,” Allison said. “When you teach students that aren’t motivated, it’s hard.”
So, Allison decided to focus solely on Allegheny College because “Allegheny students were good.”
The main reason Allison believes that students should be interested in “Hit It” is to create personal wealth.
“The way (you do this) is not working for somebody, it’s having your own business,” Allison said. “It’s owning an ownership stake in a business. You can get that working for a big corporation, and that’s in the form of stock options. But the reason companies will give that to you is because you’re valuable and they want to keep you.”
Allison had many inspirations besides his father when writing this book, including his two personal heroes: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.
Many students in Allison’s current ECON 280: Econ of Entrepreneurship class have received previews of the book and were excited about its release. Tharit Monsereenusorn, ’25, spoke about how Allison has benefited Allegheny students through his teaching.
Monsereenusorn feels that Allison is one of the most impactful professors he has had.
“Unlike other professors whose focus is on academia, Chris brings in direct experience as a business owner, which has allowed him to directly draw on his expertise in entrepreneurship to teach his students on how to effectively start their own business,” Monsereenusorn said. “ I am certain that his book would certainly be of use to someone who is interested in starting their own business or even just someone who is interested in bettering themself.”
Sarah Allison, ’25, is taking her first class with Chris Allison and enjoys his use of real-world applications, as well as his wide knowledge of the business world.
“He has given a lot of great tips on how to function within a corporate environment,” Allison said, “along with tips on how to expand yourself outside of the corporate world.”
Chris Allison already has two new upcoming books he is in the process of writing. One is titled, “Forget Me Not’s,” a mystery novel centered around a man who uses people suffering from Alzheimer’s to help him rob banks.
“Because when they get arrested, they forget who told them to rob the bank,” Allison explained.
The second is a modernized retelling of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“Hit It!: A Tech Start-Up Story and Seven Rules for Entrepreneurs” is available on Amazon for $14.99.